Non è mai facile parlare di un gruppo sulla breccia, ormai, da oltre un ventennio. Tanti sono i dischi pubblicati e tante sono le emozioni suscitate negli ascoltatori, che cogliere oggettivamente nel segno è impresa ardua assai.
Parlare, poi, dei cambiamenti di rotta e dei tentativi di riciclaggio attuati in questo lasso di tempo, è una vera e propria operazione labirintistica.
Tracey Thorn e Ben Watt con "Amplified Heart" giungono al loro settimo lavoro sulla lunga distanza (esclusi best e live). Il disco precedente "Worldwide" era stato, senza mezze misure, un passo falso e azzardare che il viale del tramonto fosse ormai imboccato sembrò scontato per chiunque.
Nascono artisticamente nel 1984 sulla scia della crescente ondata new cool, riconducibile ai vari Working Week, Style Council e Sade sul versante più commerciale.
Questo lavoro ci riporta in un certo senso a quel periodo e se "Eden" sembra essere un gioiellino unico, diciamo che siamo dalle parti dell'appena meno felice seguito "Love Not Money".
Atmosfere vellutate intrise di malinconia e su tutto la sempre magnifica voce di Tracey Thorn per disegnare dieci gradevolissime tracce che solcano morbide linee melodiche unite ad un gusto della misura raramente riscontrabile nelle produzioni contemporanee.
Ben Watt dimostra ancora una volta di essere un musicista di razza anche quando si cimenta nel canto delle dolcissime "Walking Into You" e "25th December".
Non ebbe, per la verità, riscontri entusiasmanti questo disco. Nel 1994 eravamo in pieno grunge e le atmosfere confidenziali non si addicevano al periodo.
Non ebbe riscontri entusiasmanti se non fosse per quella "Missing", remixata in varie salse e ballata sui dancefloor di mezzo mondo. Qui viene riproposta, a fine cd, nella sua versione più famosa, quella di Todd Terry e ad onor del vero sembra fare a pugni con i trentotto minuti che la precedono. Se vogliamo è un piccolo anticipo della svolta techno-dub perpretata di lì a poco con il successivo "Walking Wounded". Ma è quella è un'altra storia.
Per stasera mi fermo qui, non esco: piove, fa freddo, resto in casa al fuoco del camino sul mio divano consolatorio. Il mondo è fuori e può aspettare.
Per stasera mi lascio cullare da "Amplified Heart"
Elenco tracce testi samples e video
01 Rollercoaster (03:13)
I still haven't got over it even now
I want to spend huge amounts of time on my own
I don't want to cause any serious damage
I want to make sure that I can manage
because I'm not really in your head
I'm not really in your head
And I see love and disaffection
and the clouds build up and won't pass over
This is my road to my redemption
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
I still haven't got over it even now
I want to spend huge amounts of time in my room (hey)
And I'm not comin' out till I feel I'm ready
I'm not running out while my heart's unsteady
and I'm not really in your head
I'm not really in your head
And when you sky falls to minus zero
well some things must dissappear
and this is my road to my redemption
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
And the names may have been changed but the faces are the same
And the names may have been changed but as people we're not the same
And I'm not
no I'm not
no I'm not really in your head
And my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
Yeah my life is just an image of a rollercoaster anyway
06 Missing (04:05)
I step off the train
I'm walking down your street again
And past your door
But you don't live there anymore
It's years since you've been there
Now you've disappeared somewhere
Like outer space
You've found some better place
And I miss you
- Like the deserts miss the rain
Could you be dead?
You always were two steps ahead
Of everyone
We'd walk behind while you would run
I look up at your house
And I can almost hear you shout
Down to me
Where I always used to be
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain
Back on the train
I ask why did I come again
Can I confess
I've been hanging around your old address?
And the years have proved
To offer nothing since you moved
You're long gone
But I can't move on
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain
I step off the train
I'm walking down your street again
And past your door
I guess you don't live there anymore
It's years since you've been there
Now you've disappeared somewhere
Like outer space
You've found some better place
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain
And I miss you -
Like the deserts miss the rain (deserts miss the rain)
09 25th December (04:03)
Words and Music by Ben Watt
And I see forests and it's the 25th of December
and my old man plays the piano for Christmas.
He plays the piano for Christmas.
And we're all there, all the aunties and uncles,
and the angle's on the top of the tree.
Up there o the top of the tree.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
Have I enough time, have I just some time,
to revisit, to go back, to return, to open my mouth again
and say something different this time.
And I see bags of newspaper and a car in the carport,
and you're a grown up and still unsure,
and I'm thirty and I don't know nothing no more.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I'm sitting, sitting on the top of the stairs,
and you're crying out on the towpath by the river
with all the swans and all the people walking by.
And all of a sudden I'm stuck with an urge to unlock a door
with a key that's too big for my hands
and I drop it, and it falls at your feet.
Come on, come on, it's there at your feet.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
And I never, no I never ever realised.
10 Disenchanted (02:04)
Look at you now, you've disenchanted,
can't believe how things can change.
Take a little out of life and things get strange.
And now you find the wishes you were granted,
things you thought were in your hands,
have slipped away.
How much can you withstand?
The wasted time, the money spent,
a sign that reads 'For Sale or Rent'.
And everything is at a standstill,
and where's someone who'll be on hand till
you're no longer disenchanted,
thinking everything is wrong?
You know you're not the only one to wait so long.
I wonder, can you try again?
Are you that strong?
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Altre recensioni
Di sexyajax
"Missing" piena di repentini cambi di tempo, spazio, ritmo, voce come se ci trovassimo in un poema ariostesco.
L'album è uno specchio della vita dell'uomo comune, che rievoca esperienze passate con finale non molto felice.
